Game 1: Yeah, this happened:
Buehler had been on a bit of a roll lately, but this was ridiculous. The first Rays no-hitter I've had since starting this in the 2020 season, and only the second in the club's history after Matt Garza's on July 26, 2010. This also might have been the most dominating pitching performance I've seen in all the games I've played as well, as the only batters to reach were Andrew Knizner leading off the 3rd on Buehler's own fielding error and a one-out walk to Hyo-Jun Park in the 9th. Buehler's game score was 102, also a Rays record. And he did it on a relatively economical 116 pitches as well. Granted this isn't your older brother's Yankees team but it still had Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks and Knizner, who's a proven .280-.290 hitter, in the lineup. Also his 16 whiffs broke the club record of 15, last accomplished by Chris Archer in 2015. Buehler got the 6 runs of support mainly from Alec Bohm and Austin Meadows, as Meadows and Bohm doubled for a run in the 1st, Meadows had a 2-run HR in the 5th (#30) following a solo shot from Brandon Marsh (#7) to make a 1-0 games 4-0, and Bohm had a 2-run single in the 7th. Baltimore won so they prevented tonight from being a double celebration, but the magic # is down to 1.
Game 2: Well the champagne will have to chill for another night as the Yankees edged the Rays 3-2 and Baltimore won as well. Matt Manning pitched decently but Trevor Bauer was a little better. The Yankees finally got their first hit of the series when Giancarlo Stanton led off the 2nd with a double over Brandon Marsh's head, Skyler Messinger doubled him home, and old friend Brandon Lowe doubled home Messinger to make it 2-0. Seth Beer continued his renaissance with 3 more hits tonight, including an RBI single in the bottom of the 2nd that made it 2-1, but Andrew Knizner tripled in Lowe to make it 3-1 in the 5th. Keibert Ruiz hit #12 off Bauer in the bottom of the 6th to get it to 3-2, but that's as close as they got. Beer singled to lead off the 9th, and Greg Jones came in to pinch-run for him and got his first MLB steal, but was stranded at 2nd as the game ended. Manning ended a decent 7 5 3 3 2 7, and although the Rays were trailing Alvarado and Anderson pitched the 8th and 9th as they hadn't worked in quite a while and there's an off-day Thursday. Beer, whose average dipped to .205 on July 29, has gone 37 for his last 100 with 4 HR and 14 RBI. The homers are down, partially due to the somewhat-suppressed HR environment I chose for the season, but he's reasserted himself as a fixture against RH pitchers.
Durham Playoff Update: Mack Anglin surrendered a first-inning grand slam to former Yankee Gio Urshela and Durham continued to struggle at the plate, falling 6-1 to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs in the opener of the International League best-of-5 finals. The Bulls once again managed a mere 3 hits, and only Chris Betts' HR averted the shutout. Star prospects Hunter Bishop and Heston Kjerstad are now a combined 1-for-33 in the postseason and if they don't start hitting soon it's going to be a short series.
Game 3: The Rays won the division today, thanks to a complete game 9-hit shutout from Daniel Lynch as they downed the Yankees 5-0. Lynch was pushed a bit, going 123 pitches, but went 9 9 0 0 0 11 for his first complete-game shutout since his debut 1-hitter last season with the Rays against Oakland. It was also Lynch's 2nd straight complete game as he's now 14-6, 3.13. The Rays came out aggressively, with Vidal Brujan walking to lead off the game and stealing 2nd, and then after Wander walked, they pulled off a double steal with Brujan scoring on a wild throw. This rattled starter Shawn Semple, who then gave up a 2-run HR to Austin Meadows (#31), Alec Bohm had an RBI single in the 4th and then Wander doubled in Brujan (who reached all 4 times he was up) for his 100th RBI on the season and the final run in the 7th. As Lynch got Skyler Messinger to fly out to center to end the game, the celebrations began as the Rays won the division for the third straight year, and fourth in the last five, as they look to defend their 2023 World Series title.
Team record: 96-51. Next up: An off-day at home, followed by the Red Sox visiting for a weekend series.
Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls still aren't hitting much (only 6 tonight) but did enough to even the IL Finals at a game apiece with Lehigh Valley thanks to a 3-1 win. Seth Johnson was the starter (and star) tonight for Durham. After giving up a 1st-inning HR to Jordan Groshans, Johnson was untouchable after that as he went 7 4 1 1 0 5. Dany Jimenez struck out the side in the 8th and Nick Frasso nailed down the save in the 9th. Bramdon Perez scored on a passed ball to tie in the 1st after Nick Gonzales doubled him to 3rd, and Tyler Frank singled in Dylan Davis in the 4th with what proved to be the winning run. They added some insurance in the 7th when Garrett Mitchell reached on a two-base throwing error and scored on Perez's sac fly. Hunter Bishop and Heston Kjerstad were a combined 0-7 tonight and are now a combined 1-40 in the playoffs, yet Durham finds itself on equal footing in the series, although two of the next 3 are in Lehigh Valley. Dustin May will get another rehab start in Game 3 in two days' time.